Sock



May 9, 1939. N4 COHN SOCK Filed May 17, 1958 INVENTOR NORMAN COHN ATTORNEY Patented VMay 9, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE .SOCK

Norman Colm, New Rochelle, N. Y. Application May 17, 1938, Serial No. 208,363

3 Claims.

The invention relates in general to hosiery and particularly to a childs sock of the conventional type of knitted body portion usually formed of ne gauge knitting and topped with a knitted ribbed welt. More specifically defined the invention relates to hosiery of the type wherein the inside of the welt is of a color or shows a decorative scheme different from that on the outside and which welt is frequently turned down at least in part to form a collar of. contrasting inner and outer colors or designs.

The primary object of the invention is to provide a novelty in socks of this character, hereinafter referred to as a tab collar sock due to its resemblance to a mans open front tab form of collar. Still another object of the invention is to provide a form of sock or even stocking which can be easily put on and taken off and at the same time will provide a smooth snug lit particularly over the instep. Broadly, this is attained by slitting the front of the Welt to form a tab collar effect arranged so that the collar will flare.open at least slightly at its front edges and thus disclose a roll collar effect exposing more or less the normal inner side of the collar.

If the slit terminated at the welt line which connects the Welt with the usual sheer body portion of the sock, there would be an abnormal strain imposed upon the sheer material every time the sock was put on or taken off thewearer. Accordingly, the invention has for another object the providing of an open front sock which will facilitate the quick insertion or withdrawalI of the foot of the wearer in the foot of the sock, For this purpose the lower portion of the front opening, that is the portion below the welt, is designed to be opened or closed by means of a fastening device ofthe zipper type. Such a form of fastening device will not only facilitate the drawing of the sock on and oi the wearer, of great practical advantage in the case of a young child, but will insure a snug smooth t about the ankle portion of the wearer, as if the sock was drawn on under its usual pulling tension and stretching effect. Incidentally the zipper fastener will contribute to the desired artistic effect especially if made of a color contrastingwith that of the sock and forms a Y-shaped decorative front to the sock which will lend itself to different color schemes to enhance the pleasing novel effect desired.-

It is intended that the collar forming welt shall be disposed i'n-its normal upstanding position aboutthelower portion of the leg of the wearer,justabove the ankle. Usually dependence can be placed upon the inherent `stiffness in ribbed formed welts to maintain the collar inan upstanding position, except insofar as the natural weight of the material from the unsupported edges will cause them to curl outwardly. It is herein suggested that under some circumstances and with certain types of materials. it may be necessary to add stiifening material to the welt to give it the necessary stiffness and it is herein suggested that a buckram or similar lining be included in the welt and extending across all or a portion of the area of the weltcollar.

Still another object of the invention is the providing of a more or less rigid effect to the welt and the disclosure herein contemplates the use of a replaceable stiflr'ening insert such as a curved sheet of Cellophane which may be inserted in an opening provided therefor between the double thickness of material in the case of the downturned type of welt so as to insure nonwrlnkling and substantial rigidity at the portion of the welt so stiffened.

Various other objects and advantages of the invention will be in part obvious from an inspection of the accompanying drawing and in part will be more fully set forth in the following particular description of one form of childs sock embodying the invention, and the invention also consists in certain new and novel features of construction and combination of parts hereinafter set forth and claimed.

In the accompanying drawing:

Fig. 1 is a view in side elevation of a childs rib top sock illustrating a preferred embodiment of the inventionhand with the zipper runner in its elevated position at the welt line;

Fig. 2 is a View in front elevation of the sock shown in Fig. 1 with the zipper runner lowered slightly from the position shown in Fig. 1 to give a slightly different visual effect and with one edge broken away to disclose the reenforcing tape;

Fig. 3 is a view in rear elevation of the sock shown in the preceding figures with' parts of rear side of the welt broken away to show the insert constituting the rear stiffening element; and

Fig'. 4 is a detailed vertical sectional view at the rear part of the sock taken on the line 1 4 of Figs. 2 and 3.

Referring particularly to the showing in Fig. 1, the invention is shown applied to a conventional form of childs sock I including a knitted body portion II of the usual fine gauge knitting and including the unreinforced ankle portion I2, foot portion I3 with its instep top side I4, reinforced toe section I5 and reinforced heel section I6. 'Knitted to the upper edge of the ankle portion along the welt line I1 is a ribbed welt I8 in this case shown to be looped back upon itself as particularly shown in Fig. 4 to form a turned welt. The welt illustrated has a normally disposed outer side I8 and an inner side I9 and which sides are of contrasting color or provided with distinctive ornamental designs as is usual in the case of turned down welt forms of hosiery.

The distinctive feature of novelty herein is that the upper front side of the sock is slit vertically downwardly across the welt to provide ends and 2| to the ribbed welt and to provide an opening 22 extending downwardly across the knitted ankle portion and terminating at a point 23 above the instep I4 and slightly below -the narrow portion 24 of the sock in advance of the heel section I6. The opening 22 is designed to be closed at will by means of a fastening device 25 of the zipper type. The eyeless fastening elements 26 of the zipper terminate at their upper ends at the welt line I1 so that when the runner element 21 of the zipper is in the elevated position shown in Fig. l, the closed zipper coacts with the reinforced welt line I1 to form along this line a closed, rugged, snug and somewhat elastic band designed to grip the wearers shank just above the ankle just as if this portion of the wearers leg were gripped by the usual elastic web welt.

As thus far described, it is understood that the welt edges 20 and 2I are unsupported above the welt line. Ribbed welts of the type under discussion usually possess sufficient rigidity to maintain themselves more or less in upright position and in one practical embodiment ofthe inventionthe two sides I8 and I9 of the welt are simply sewed the upper corners 28 and 29 have a tendency to curl outwardly and slightly downwardly as shown in Fig. 2, thus exposing the adjacent portion of the inner side I8. In case the welt should not possess suilicient stiffness to maintain itself as a whole it is suggested that the welt be starched or lined with buckram or other conventional stiftening material. In the 4illustrated instance, two strips of lining 30 may be confined to the edge portions 20 and 2I so as to give some degree of stiifness to these edges. This lining may be conveniently inserted by using an upward extension from the tape 3l which carries the eyeless fastening elements With some relatively light forms of welts, the

slitting of the same as herein featured is apt, to

cause the Welt to sag after being in use for a while and this sagging is particularly noticeable at the rear portion of the sock. This, of course, can be avoided by the use of stiffening material or the lining hereinbefore suggested As an alternative suggestion, the welt and particularly the rear portion thereof can be maintained in a more or less rigid upstanding position by the insertion therein, that is between the front and inner sides, of a stiffening member 32. This may be a thin sheet of Celluloid bent to conform to the curvature at the back of the leg. As shown in Fig. 3 this element may have a broad base 33 narrowing to its top edge 34. In order to facilitate easy insertion and removal of the Celluloid member, it is suggested that the inner side of the welt be slit open between the points 35 and 36, Fig. 3, to provide opening 31 through which the stiffening member may be inserted and then permitted to spring outwardly so that their end edges 38 will rest on one slitted portion at the bottom of the welt on opposite sides of the opening 31.

It is appreciated that in drawing the ordinary sock on a child, particularly a young child, it is difficult to get the childs foot into the foot of the sock. To do this it is, of course, necessary with conventional forms of socks to stretch the welt and which stretching if continued for any material length of time tends to give a set to the welt and not infrequently it loses its desired elasticity and ability to fit snug and smooth against the leg before it can be adjusted in position. The place where it is most difficult to pass the childs foot is across the narrow portion 24 and this narrow portion must be retained in order to insure a smooth iit desired across the instep I4. In the form of sock herein disclosed and with the zipper runner at the point 23, the leg portion of the sock is entirely and wide open down to this narrow portion so that the person dressing the child does not have to stretch the weltA or the ankle portion at all as the childs foot can be directly inserted into the foot of the sock and the sock adjusted in position on the foot without regard at this time to the fitting of the ankle portion, The toe section and heel section can be quickly shifted as may be necessary to properly locate the sock foot as a whole on the foot of the child. Then by simply elevating the runner element of the zipper with a slight guiding of the upper portion of the sock in place, if such shifting be necessary, the sock is fitted without necessity of the usual adjustment to bring the rear seam centered at the back of the leg, All knitted stockings are of course designed to accommodate themselves to anatomical variations of the foot, ankles and legs of the wearer, and the present disclosure retains al1 of thel advantages in this respect of conventional forms` of socks. Even if in the act of closing the zipper, itdoes not happen to be in the theoretically proper position it will not make any particular difference in either the fit of the sock or its appearance as the inherent capacity of the knitted fabric is to accommodate itself to any such twisted and distorted position of the sock.

The present disclosure particularly features the providing of a novel and artistic form of sock. In one form of the invention the zipper is of white color to contrast vividly with a dark colored body portion and which body portion in turn contrasts with the ribbed welt top which is of contrasting color on opposite sides thereof and in which the ribs are defined by threads of brilliant color.

I claim:

1. A childs tab sock comprising a knitted body portion of relatively fine gauge and including a reinforced toe and heel section and an unreinforced ankle portion adapted to conform to and thus snugly fit about the foot and ankle of the wearer, a welt of double thickness of material knitted to the upper edge of the body portion along a welt line, the front of the sock being slit across the welt and for a distance therefrom downwardly along the body portion above the instep, fastening means of the zipper type having its eyeless fastening elements extending from the welt line downwardly along the slit to its lower end to close at will the portion of the slit below the welt, leaving the welt uniastened at its front alumno \of the sock, said fastening means having a fabric tape extension lining adding stiffness to the free emi edges of the welt, the rear portion of said welt provided with an opening into the same between its ltwo layers of material and a Celluloid member insertable into the welt through said opening to maintain the rear portion of the welt in an upright' position while in use.

2. A tab sock comprising a body portion of knitted material and a welt, the sock being slit at its front side with the slit extending vertically across the welt, along the body portion and terminating at the ankle portion. fastening means of the zipper type for closing the lower portion 5 er the sut terminating below the welt and thus leaving the welt free of any fastening. thereby to form the welt as a tab collar and a replaceable reinforcing elementv at the rear portion of the welt to give it stiffness.'

3. A tab sock comprising a body portion of knitted material and a welt, the sock being slit at its front side with the slit extendingfvertically across the welt along the body portion and terminating at the ankle portion, fastening means of the zipper type for closing the lower portion of the slit terminating below the welt and thus leaving the welt free of any fastening thereby to form the welt as a tab collar, and means on the welt adjacent the slit to reinforce the welt at this point and give it stiffness.

NORMAN SOHN. 

